Story Of The Damned
by LoveOfFiction
Summary: First story. Work in progress.
1. Haunted

Claire grunted as she was tossed into her cell. The hands that once held her now shut the door to her freedom. She knew very little of her current placement. She knew it was a jail which gave her the irony of Rockfort. She had been trying to copy Umbrella files onto a flash drive in an Umbrella facility in Japan when the alarms had sounded. After that it was mainly blurs of shapes.

Lost in her thought of how she had ended up here she hadn't realized she wasn't alone in the cell. Glancing over her shoulder she noticed a man laying on the bottom bunk of the cell room's beds. She was whistling softly it almost sounded like 'You Are My Sunshine' by Johnny Cash. The irony of the tune being whistled in a dark, dingy place like this was incredible. Slowly, the tune came to an end. Claire couldn't make out much of the man's face with the low amount of light she was given in the cell.

"So what you in for?" His voice echoed against the cement walls surrounding them. "Umbrella caught me in one of their facilites copying their files." She was almost proud of herself. Though this wasn't her first time getting caught by Umbrella. Rustling noises and the bed squealing under the weight of the body on it told her he was either adjusting himself or sitting up. "Umbrella caught you? Nice. Though I can't say much. They got me too." Claure chuckled glad to know she wasn't the only one who was caught. "So what exactly did they catch you doing?"

The man gave a soft laugh. "Well they didn't take to kindly to their researchers being gunned down."

"You shoot their scientists? How did you even manage to get that close?" The man remained silent for a while. Claire could hear the other prisoners snoring in their cells. "That's something to save for another time." The bed squealed again but this time the noise was followed by approaching footsteps. The man came to sit next to her, his features illuminated by the light. She glanced over to her cell mate taking him in. His face had a toughness that was almost written on every little detail of his face. His eyes were green almost the color of the grass and his hair was jet black, short, and spiked on the top.

He smiled when he noticed she was looking at his eyes. "My name's Zack Meyers. You would be?"

"Claire Redfield." His cheerful look turned to that of almost admiration. "Claire Redfield? Aren't you one of the survivors of Raccoon City?"

She only nodded in reponse to his question. "You also survived Rockfort Island and Harvardville if I'm correct."

She sighed. How could he have known all this about her? "Yeah that was me." He surprised her when he began to laugh. "Wow, you look so fragile. Hard to believe a little thing like you could possibly survive all those nightmares."

"You'd be surprised what you can do when all you want is to see the next day." She put her head down staring at the cracks in the floor under her boots. She wasn't proud of surviving those things. So many innocent people had died. She'd lost someone she loved because of those nightmares. She thought back to Rockfort to the first time she had met him. He plagued her every dream and thought since.

_ "Wait! I wasn't trying to escape. I just...The alarm sounded and the door unlocked. I thought...that I..."  
She dragged her gun against the back of the Rockfort Prisoner shirt as she spoke. "Rockfort Prison, detainee 267. I guess you're not with Umbrella then are you?"_

Claire shook her head as if she could just shake away his memory all together. She didn't want to think of him not now. She couldn't lose her self-control when she needed it most. She had to keep calm and think of a way out of this place. Suddenly, she felt a slight push against her ribs. Looking down she noticed Zack's elbow in her rib cage. "Hey, why do you look sad sad all of the sudden? Cheer up you've got one hell of a good looking cell mate to keep you company."

She offered him a small smile to reward him for even trying to cheer her up. Ever since that day in Antarctica she had been different. The only comfort she had ever gotten was from Chris but that had be short lived due to the impending danger they faced. After that she had simply pushed her grief to the side and continued to live like it had never happened.

"Zack. I have to ask you something. I know it'll sound crazy and you probably won't but I have to escape from this place. I have things to do outside these walls."

"What is it, Claire?"

"I want you to help me escape."


	2. Escape

"Alright, Redfield time for you to go see the warden." Claire sat on her bunk, watching as the guard slid his keycard, unlocking the cell door. Zack glanced up at Claire from his spot in the corner closest to the door. She nodded to him both then turned their gaze to the door as it slid open. "Come on, don't keep the warden waiting would ya?" The guard sighed once he saw Claire had no intention of moving from her bunk.

Once past Zack who stayed in his corner quietly, the guard took out the handcuffs attached to his uniform's belt. Zack took a few steps closing the small gap between him and the guard. Hearing the movement behind him the guard turned to look at Zack. Claire never noticed how tall Zack was until he stood in front of the guard who was at least 5'6". Zack cleared 6 foot with ease. "Hey, go back to your corner pal."

With the guard distracted by her partner she stood, taking a pillow in her hand, then wrapped it around the guard's face. She pulled back tightly putting her knee in the guard's back to help her make sure he got no air. Zack wrapped his hands around the man's neck and squeezed. He struggled against the two but unable to overpower them both. His movements slowly became sluggish then ceased all together. With a small huff Claire laid the motionless body to the ground. Putting her finger to his neck she made sure he had a pulse not wanting to kill anyone unless it was necessary.

She searched him digging down into his pockets and the pouches that aligned his belt. She took the gun from the holster on his hip and the few extra clips stored in a pouch next to the gun. "Keycard...keycard where'd he put it." Zack sighed as he flipped the man onto his stomach and reached into his back pocket, pulling out the keycard between his pointer and middle finger. She took the keycard from his fingers and shoved it hastily into her bra. Standing up she placed the gun in the back of her pants and the extra clips in her back pockets.

"Whoa I don't get a gun?" Zack sounded almost offended. Claire only rolled her eyes as she went to the door.

"He only has one. We'll find you something don't worry." Zack grunted as he turned to follow her out. Once outside the cell she gave the handle of the door a hard pull watching as it slid shut. The light on the eletronic lock turned red letting them know it was now locked. Looking at the guard now inside the cell while they stood on the outside Claire tried to think of a quick way to get out.

"We won't have much time before he wakes up or someone realizes that he's missing." She sighed as she began to walk down the hallway.

"Okay, so now we work on getting to the front door without getting caught." Zack chuckled at how easy it sounded.

"Yeah sounds easier then it will be. I've escape from prison before but not one where the guards weren't moaning and trying to bite me." She smiled back at him as their walk turned to a jog.

The hallway resembled the cells. Cement walls and floors barely hit by any real lighting. "Alright, first door." Zack stopped by the door as Claire pulled the keycard out of her bra and quickly slid it through the eletronic lock placed on the door. The small light that had originally been red flashed green and the door opened.

Both peaked out around the door's corners before stepping into the new corridor. The hallway spilt to the left and right of them though each way looked the same. Nothing adorned the walls to give Claire any idea which way would lead to freedom. "So which way exactly should we go?" She glanced back at Zack who was tapping his finger to his chin in thought.

"Left. If I can remember the lay out of this prison correctly it's to the left."

"Wait you're telling me you're not sure that it's left?"

Zack shrugged "Well all the halls look the same. The guards have this place memorized so they don't need markings to tell them which way to go. It's supposed to make it harder for prisoners to attempt a break out." He chuckled as he began down the left hall.

Claire sighed as she followed him down the hall. She only hoped he was right about this. Taking a wrong turn would cost them vaulable time. Small rooms lined the hall way. Each door was made of solid steel with a small window to look in and out of the room. "So what is behind these doors?"

Zack glanced at the doors as they passed by them. "The worst of the worst. They are kept in complete isolation from my understanding."

"Worst of the worst? What could they have done?" She peaked through one of the small windows, seeing a man who was curled into a ball in the far corner of the room. The room was completely empty besides the small man in the corner. There was no bed or even a toliet. Claire cringed thinking of how exactly the prisoners would go to the bathroom.

"Rape, murder, ya know the wack jobs of the place." His face remained unmoved when he spoke of the crimes that caused Claire to inwardly cringe. They walked in silence until coming upon the next door which required no keycard. It was locked and unlocked by control. There was a small button besides the handle of the door. Zack stretched out his hand, causing Claire to walk straight into it.

"Why'd you stop?" She looked around finally noticing the door. She had barely paid attention to her surroundings as they walked down the hall.

"There's a camera above the door. To open it we are going to have to ring the door bell which means the guard in the control room is going to look at the camera to make sure who is coming through."

Claire sighed as she looked around. "How do we get past that then?"

Zack turned to smile at her. "Luckily for us the control room is down the right hall. It won't be easy getting in there but once we do we can unlock all the doors and make a run for it with nothing to slow us down."

"Don't you think that'll raise suspicion if the doors all suddenly unlock?"

"Who cares if we can run quick enough the guards won't catch us. They'll be to busy trying to figure out how the doors got unlocked."

Claire didn't like the idea. It sounded to easy which meant something would go wrong but what real choice did she have? They had to get the doors opened so they could get out. "Alright fine. Let's make it quick."


	3. Accident

"Shit! Zack take cover!" Claire said as she returned fire on the guards that had been insided the security room. She quickly ducked back under the desk when they had reloaded their guns.

Zack hide himself behind a small cabinet crunching into a ball to fit behind it completely. "Shoot them already, Claire!"

"Shut up I'm working on it!" When she no longer heard the tinging of bullets hitting metal she came out from under the desk and began to fire back. A small smirk formed on her lips when she hit one of the guards in the shoulder. He screamed out as he fell back out of her sight.

Zack slide out from his hiding spot and moved closer to the guards who were taking their sweet time reloading. Possibly, out of ammo though there was no sure way to tell. He ran across the floor on all fours. He heard a click behind his head and turned to see one of the guards pointing a gun in his face. He raised his hands up in surrender. The guard moved closer putting one hand behind him to take the cuffs off his belt. With one quick hard kick Zack managed to hit the guard's knee.

There was a loud crack and the guard fell to ground. Repeating the move this time Zack kicked the guard in the face hearing another crack from the guard's nose, the man stopped moving. He wasn't sure if he killed him or just knocked him out but he had no time to check. Grabbing the gun that had fallen from the guard's hand when he fell to the floor, Zack stood up and swung in a circle around the room. There was at least five guards when they had came through the door. Claire had only managed to take out one so far and he had taken one down as well. That left three others hiding somewhere.

"Claire?" He whispered hoping she was close enough to hear him. He didn't want one of the remaining guards to hear him and pop out. There was the sound of clicking against the tile floor causing him to turn around, his gun right between Claire's eyes.

She sighed and reached up, grabbing hold of the gun to lower it away from her face. She pointed to his left with two fingers then past his head with one. He understood her message perfectly. She turned and made her way to the two guards on his left. He turned and slowly walked towards the guard behind him.

Claire noticed the small movement of one of the guard's shoulders behind a tall filing cabinet. Raising her gun up, finger on the trigger she stepped ever closer to the moving shoulder. As she grew closer a bullet whizzed by her head. Looking towards the loud noise she saw the other guard standing right across the desk she stood beside, gun trained on her. As if that was a signal the other guard came out from behind the cabinet his gun already aimed at her chest. "Easy boys. No harm done right?" She chuckled half heartedly as she raised her hands up in the air.

The guard behind the desk moved around it to stand behind her, gun still raised up. They were waiting for a reason to shoot her like shooting one of their buddies wasn't already good enough. The sudden sound of gunfire caused her to drop to the ground with a small squeak as the guard behind her dropped to the floor. Glancing backwards she saw Zack walking towards her, guns blazing. He actually had two guns. _"How'd he get those?"_ She asked herself, though forgot about it when the body of the last guard dropped down beside her. "Nice shooting, tex." She smiled as she stood up, dusting the knees of her jeans off.

"You looked like you needed the help." He chuckled as he slid the guns into his back pockets. "Alright, let's go the unlock those doors and get the hell outta dodge, eh?" Claire nodded as she made her way to the control panel. Buttons covered the enter area and the wall covered in screens displaying the feed from the video cameras all around the prison. "Shit, which one?" Claire slammed her hands down onto the panel as she stared down at the buttons. Zack began to run his fingers along the buttons. "This one." He said as he pushed the button. "Whoa! How do you know?" Zack shrugged as he looked up at the cameras. "Just seems right."

This sent the redhead into a panic. "You could've just alerted the whole prison to our escape! Ah! Men!" She flung her hands into the air in frustration. A small clicking noise sounded as the light above the button turned green which had earlier been red. "I think I did it." Claire sighed as she scanned over the cameras. All the doors seemed to still be locked. The buttons near the keycard readers all red. "No I don't think you did. The doors are still shut." Zack grunted as he looked over the buttons again. "Oh this one!" He pushed down a button that was different in shape and color from the rest. Watching the screen again Claire smiled when the door lights turned green. "Sweet let's get moving." She turned on her heels and quickly left the room, Zack followed close on her heels. Neither knowing the horrible events about to unfold before them.


	4. Mission

"There it is, Claire. The front door." Zack nudged the redhead as he pointed towards their way out. "If we can take out those guards we are home free." Claire smiled a bit of excitment boiling up inside her. "Then why are we still standing here!" She was about to move when blood chilling scream echoed in the large lobby. Ceasing all movement the pair looked around. The guards themselves doing the same thing. All of them wondering what had happened.

"You two go check it out." Claire glanced around the corner of the statue they had croutched behind. She watched as two guards left heading in the direction the scream had come from. Leaving two guards at the door. "Claire, what do you think that was?" Zack sounded a bit worried. "Probably someone finding our handy work around the prison." She shrugged the scream off as just that. Someone must've run into the bodies that laid around the prison. Leaving them little time to get out of the doors. They had created quiet a lot of corpses on their way here. She was just about to jump out from behind the statue gun at the ready when one long red tongue shot down grabbing hold of lead guard by the neck pulling him up. Claire looked up into the rafters but saw nothing.

"Go, Claire!" Though the redhead only grabbed hold of Zack's pants as he tried to move around her. "No, wait. Something's not right." The other guard looked around the rafters in a bit of a frantic motion. "Sir! Sir!" His calls where answered when his comrade was dropped from the rafters. Random chunks of flesh missing from his body. The guard screamed as he jumped away from the body. "No...this can't be happening. Not now." Her voice was soft as her nightmares became a reality once more. Zack gagged as he looked away. "What did that?"

Claire could actually feel the fear inside her stomach. "The one thing we don't want to stick around to see." If she was right about what was in the rafters, she had encountered it before in Raccoon City. "When the guard gets pulled up we make a run for it. Don't stop running. Not even after we are out of the doors." Zack only nodded as he looked back towards the last guard who was still staring at the body of his commander. More screams sounded from where the other two guards had gone. They were dead no doubt in Claire's mind.

Just has she had predicted the other guard was pulled up into the rafters by the long red tongue. "Move!" Claire grabbed Zack and shoved him forward, making a break for the front door. Claire put her shoulder forward and Zack followed suit. Busting the doors opened, Claire stumbled a bit but regained her balance and ran down the flight of steps that lead up to the prison doors. They ran head first into the darkness neither looking back. She didn't care she just wanted out before things got worse. They always got worse.

Once outside she could hear it. The screams of the dying and the moans of the undead. "This way!" Zack pointed ahead of them as they ran. "There's a prison boat on the dock we can use to escape!" Hearing the word escape gave Claire the extra humph needed to pick up the pace. She had no idea how this happened. Everything had seemed normal inside the prison. How had the virus gotten here? The dock came into view in a short amount of time. Both of them skidded to a halt. Moaning louder then before. The dock was completly infested with the limping undead. Claire's voice was barely a whisper as she spoke. "We have to take them out to get to the boat. Aim for the head." Zack swallowed hard as he check the clips of his guns. "Okay, Claire let's do it."

The redhead pulled out her own gun and cocked it. "We'll stand here and take out as many as possible. Once they are down we need to get on that boat and get out of here. The noise will attract others." Raising up her gun and closing one eye, Claire trained her gun to the forehead of a zombie. She pulled the trigger and the zombie dropped. The noise attracting the attention of all the others. The other zombies raised up their hands and began to walk towards them. The two wasted no more time, dropping the undead left and right. After what seemed like a lifetime but actually only a few minutes the undead were dead. Without a word Claire went down the dock moving around the bodies and jumped over the side of the boat. Zack's boot tapped on the floor boards of the boat as he to jumped in.

The boat had a second part to it. A flight of stairs leading to the wheel. Zack made his way up the stairs, looking around a bit paranoid that something was lurking around every corner now. Going to the wheel, he looked for the ignition. He found it and no key inside it. "Claire there's no key in it!" She sighed as she looked around. A small door catching her attention. "Okay there's a door down here I'll see if its hidden down here. You look see if its up there." She catiously pulled the door open, pearing inside the room before actually taking a step inside. Behind the door was a bedroom. It was only about the size of a walk in closest. A small cot hung from the wall and clothes littered the floor.

She sighed and began to move things around, shaking the clothes incase the keys were hidden inside a pocket. Nothing fell out, it wasn't until she heard her name being called that she thought about the outbreak going on outside the boat. She crawled out of the small space and looked up to the top of the boat. "Zack, what's going on!" She saw the boys head pop out from the ledge his hand soon followed as he pointed out towards the prison. "We've got company!" She looked out in the direction he was pointing to see a horde of zombies limping towards them. "Oh shit...Zack find those keys now!" She jumped back out onto the dock, pulling out her gun from the back of her pants. Taking quick aim she fired off a few quick shots. A few zombies dropped as the others continued past their dead bodies.

Zack became panicked, finding the keys a bit harder then before. He began to tear about the boat. His hands shook with every gunshot he heard. For some reason he could hear what sounded like machine guns in the distance. Lights hit the boat illuminating him and everything else. Shielding his eyes from the sudden lights he looked up. A strong wind threatened to knock him back. Then he realized that the machine gun he had heard was really the sound of an approaching helicopter's propeller.

Claire hearing the noise and the lights stopped shooting and looked back, seeing the helicopter gave her a slight glimmer of hope. Though was it salvation? Or Umbrella.

"Two survivors both inmates. Survivors indentified as Claire Redfield and Zack Meyers." A woman's voice came over the intercom inside the helicopter. "They are to be captured and brought to H.Q." The redheaded man chuckled as he looked around his small team. "Alright, you heard her. We've got two hours before they terminate this prison. Plenty of time to grab them and go."


	5. Grown Up

"Alright, hold on tight." Claire nodded as the man wrapped an arm around her waist. She clung to his neck afraid that once they were lifted into the air he might drop her. The rope began to pull them up into the helicopter. She still wasn't sure if she could trust them but for now she had no other choice. To get out of the prison she needed them. The rope ride to the helicopter didn't take long. Two large muscle headed men waiting to pull them in. In a seat with a small smile on his sat Zack who had been lifted into the helicopter earlier.

The redheaded male who had held onto her to get her into the helicopter sat down then patted a seat next to him. She took the seat glad to be off her feet and finally getting away from the prison. "So do you wanna tell us why you just saved our asses?" Zack looked around at the three men who had saved them. The redhead answering his question. "Because we were ordered to." This caused Claire to raise an eyebrow. "By who? Umbrella? Wesker? Tricell?" The redhead looked up at her. She hadn't noticed before he was wearing sunglasses in the middle of the night. "Wesker is the last damn person I'd be working for."

Claire raised her hands up. "Whoa sorry." He looked down at the floor, folding his hands together. "I work for a small anti-bioterrisom group called Amaranth." Zack scoffed when he had finished talking. "Great so we escaped from one nut job to be captured by another." Claire sighed "Zack enough be thankful they saved us and they aren't from Umbrella." He glared at Claire before turning to stare out the door. "So where are you taking us?" Claire couldn't help her curious nature. Besides if she was being captured again she'd at least like to know where she was being taken this time.

The redheaded man looked at her or at least it seemed so. It was hard to tell who he was looking at from behind those glasses. A small smirk tugged at his lips. "The Berumda Triangle. Even in the middle of a mass bio-war people still don't dare go there, because of all the legends and myths surrounding the place. A perfect place to hide. Well, almost." Claire quirked an eyebrow. "Almost?"

"Yeah some people like Umbrella and Tricell have come in, trying to wipe us out. Though we know the place better then anyone else in the world. They are out of their element there." The boy sat back in his chair, putting his arms on the back of the seat. One arm laid back behind Claire. Zack glared at the man but said nothing. "The Bermuda Triangle is in the ocean. Where could you have a place to stay there?" Zack's suspicion laced in his voice. The redhead waved his hand at Zack, as if blowing off his question. "You'll see boy. Just relax, I'm not going to hurt your girlfriend."

Claire rolled her eyes. "He's not my boyfriend. Just my partner." Zack opened his mouth to speak but was cut off when the pilot yelled back. "Yo, boss we are landing now." The redhead stood up and grabbed onto the handle above the open helicopter door. "Hold on boys and girls. We're home." The helicopter landing was surprisingly rough, leading Claire to believe the pilor had no clue what he was doing. She made her way to the door as the others filed out of the other side. The redhead stood with his hand stretched out to help her off.

She smiled and took his hand, before leaving the helicopter she glanced around to figure out where exactly they were. "So...a giant ship is your home?" Oddly, it seemed like a safe place to be. Not like the infected could swim very well. The redhead chuckled "Yeah home sweet home, my lady. Follow me, if you would. My leader would like a word with you." Claire finally stepped off the helicopter, Zack being close behind her. Releasing her hand the man began to walk across the ship. In the darkness the ship was hard to make out and Claire had a hard time seeing where exactly she was being lead. She didn't notice the door until she had almost walked straight into the redhead.

The man held the door open for her, allowing her to step in first but then stepped in front of Zack to walk behind her. Zack growled under his breath and it almost sounded like he cursed at the man but Claire could hardly make out what he said. Behind the door was a long hallway with doors on either side the whole way back. At the end of the hallway stood a large and rather fancy door for a ship. "She's in the last door at the end." The redhead moved around Claire to take lead to the door. As they made their way down the hallway, Claire took the time to look through the open doors. There were a few rooms that held cots, a few that looked to be small armorys, a kitchen, and the last looked to be a living room of sorts.

Opening the door again the redhead allowed Claire to enter first but this time allowed Zack to step in next. "Ma'am, Claire Redfield and her partner are here now." The room looked very much like an office that you would see inside any large company. Towards the back of the room sat a desk, the chair turned with its back facing them. One large window behind the chair and a bed in the opposite corner. There was a large black rug on the floor and many paintings lined the walls. The chair turned around like something you would see in a horror movie. In the chair sat a woman with long blonde hair. The woman smiled brightly and yet it was familiar to Claire. "Hello, Miss Redfield. It's been a while."

Claire stared at the woman taking in her features. She had seen this face before she knew it. It was a matter of where. "Has it really been that long that you don't realize who I am?" The woman wheeled her chair back and pulled open a drawer of her desk. Claire could hear papers and other items moving around until the noise stopped. The woman finding what she wanted. The woman pulled out a red piece of clothing then held up the clothing the back of it facing Claire. The vest was worn in certain places and holes had begun to form but the angel holding the bomb with the letters 'Made In Heaven' on the top made Claire's eyes almost bug out of her head. It was then she realized who this grown woman was. The small child she and Leon had saved years back in Raccoon City. Claire's eyes began to fill with tears as she clapped her hand over her mouth. "Sherry..."


	6. Alive

Sherry's smile was brillant. She was so much happier now. "So you're telling me that when you were taken from Leon and the goverment. You were experimented on by Wesker?" Claire's voice was laced in disbelief. It was hard to imagine the little girl Sherry used to be, being treated like a simple lab rat. Wesker really had no limits. Sherry nodded as she set down her glass. Before starting their catching up the redheaded man had gotten all three of them a glass of wine. Where exactly they kept their supplies stashed Claire had no idea but she wouldn't question it at the moment. Sherry chuckled. "I won't lie. It was terrible. I expected you and Leon to come in guns blazing and save me." Claire's face dropped as a picture of a small scared Sherry laying on a lab table, waiting on her to save her, popped into her head.

Sherry chuckled and waved her hand, still knowing Claire's expressions by heart. "Don't beat yourself up about this, Claire. I was a child I didn't think that you or Leon had no idea what had happened to me. As far as you two knew I was safely on my way to someplace protected by the goverment." Claire's eyes glued themself to the wine in her glass. She wanted to cry, she should've never left Sherry with Leon but she had thought it would be safer for the girl. Silence fell over the group, Claire unsure how to voice her thoughts. Sherry's fingers lightly touched Claire's cheek, breaking Claire out of her thoughts. The girl had a large smile on her face. "Claire, please cheer up. That was the past we are here together now."

Claire nodded "So this makes you what twenty five, twenty six?" Sherry giggled "I'm twenty six now." Claire shook her head almost unable to believe it. "You've grown up into a beautiful woman, Sherry." Zack had remained quiet during the whole conversation allowing the girls to catch up. He was shocked though that the great William Birkin's daugther sat before him. He had heard a lot about William and Annette growing up. HIs eyes drifted every so often to the redheaded man who stood silently in the corner. He couldn't place his finger on it but he didn't like the guy. "So who is your friend?" Claire smiled as she looked at Zack. "He's someone I met in that prison. He was my cellmate. Had it not been for him I don't think I would've gotten out." Zack turned his attention to Sherry. He extended his hand out to shake hers. "Zack Meyers, miss." He smiled in an almost charming way.

Sherry took his hand firmly, smiling back. "Thank you for helping her. She needs someone to watch her back, apparently." Claire almost felt the need to roll her eyes. "Everyone acts like I just get myself into all sorts of trouble." Sherry laughed at this. "Claire, there was Raccoon City, Rockfort Island, and Harvardville. Now this. You don't get yourself into trouble. It finds you." Claire took a large swallow of the wine when Sherry mentioned Rockfort. She'd do anything to avoid the topic. "Yeah, guess you're right." She slid her chair back and stood up moving away from her friends to go stand by the window. Sherry watched her curiously. Glancing at Zack, Sherry quirked her eyebrow. Zack shrugged he wasn't really sure what her problem was. "Whenever the incidents she's been involved in come up she acts weird. No clue why."

Sherry turned to stare at Claire. She wanted to know what bothered her long time friend but at the same time felt that if Claire wanted her to know she'd tell her. Claire took a deep breath as she stared out at the ocean. She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning to look the redheaded man was touching her shoulder. "Whatevers eating at you. Let it go. It'll only get you killed nowadays." Claire shook her head. "If I let it go, I'd have to let him go and I'm not ready for that yet." She could feel the questioning look he was giving her from behind his glasses but turned her attention to the window once more.

"Claire let's go for a walk around the ship. You should probably get more adjusted to your new home." Sherry was already out of her chair and walking towards the door. Zack followed her. Claire smiled at the redhead as she turned away from the window to follow Sherry and Zack. "So what do you know about that prison? I mean a biohazard broke out, just almost randomly." Claire kept her eyes focused ahead of her as she spoke to Sherry. "Well, the outbreak wasn't random. Someone from the control room of the prison released the infected. Claire, that prison is controlled by Umbrella. They've been taking people there for years to experiment on them. It's normally just prisoners. People who have been given life and no one will question their disappearance. Sometimes, they'll bring in people they've captured and deemed a danger to the company." She looked at Claire with a stone like gaze. "You mean like me." Sherry nodded. "Claire think about it. You've been working for years to bring down Umbrella. You are a survivor of Raccoon City. They wanted all Raccoon City survivors killed so they couldn't speak up about it being Umbrella's fault. You're a liability to them."

The news in some way didn't faze Claire. She had always known Umbrella had it out for her and her brother. "That would make you target wouldn't it?" Sherry nodded "That it would. Along with Leon." Sherry opened the door leading back out to the outside of the boat. She held the door open for the others. Once, outside Claire took a deep breath. Now it was time to figure out exactly what Sherry was doing on this boat. "So what is this Amaranth?" Sherry closed the door behind them, then walked out towards them. Claire took notice that the redhead stuck close to her side. "After I escaped Wesker I decided it was time to fight back. I needed to do something to help those that protected me." She smiled at Claire. "Amaranth is nothing more then a group of survivors who want to see Wesker's head on a stick."

"Then I want in. Knowing that you're okay. I can't leave again. I need to stay here and help." Sherry smiled "I figured you'd see it that way, Claire. But first before you make a hasty decision about staying. I want you to meet someone." Claire questioningly stared at Sherry. "This person has the ability to change your mind." Sherry looked to the redhead and nodded. He took a deep breath and reached up grabbing his glasses. Finally, he removed his glasses allowing Claire a full look at his face. What she saw made her heart stop in its tracks. The most gorgeous blue eyes stared back at her. She took in his every feature. "See, Claire? I didn't die in Antarctica." Steve's lips curled up into an almost cocky smirk.


	7. Reunion

"Claire, stop!" Steve held both of Claire's wrists tightly in his hands as she began to headbutt him. Her sobs shook her entire body. "You jerk! You never told me you were alive! You never came to find me! I've spent the last fourteen years..." Her voice caught in her throat as she thought about the last fourteen years. All this time she'd believed him dead, that she had gotten him killed. Yet here he was right in front of her. Her legs gave out from under her. She collapsed against him. Catiously, Steve let go of her wrists and wrapped his arms around her waist to hold her against him. He buried his face in her hair and smiled. "I missed you too." She wanted to keep hitting him but couldn't find the strength in herself to move.

Zack watched them curiously. He leaned over to Sherry to whisper. "So who is this guy and why is Claire crying?" Sherry watched the reunion with a small smile. "Well, Steve and Claire met in Rockfort Prison back in 98'. They went through quiet a bit together. Somewhere along the way they fell in love with each other. Have you ever heard of the Veronica virus?" Sherry glanced over at Zack who shook his head. "Well, Steve was injected with it. He turned into one hell of an ugly monster. Alexia Ashford put Steve up against Claire, Steve tried to kill her. But Alexia also came into the picture and tried to literally rip Claire apart. Somehow, Steve got control of himself long enough to save Claire. He cut off one of Alexia's tentacles in her own rage Alexia stabbed Steve. He turned back to his old self. Told Claire he loved her then passed out."

Zack understood the story but was still confused on how he was alive. "Okay, so why is he still breathing then?" Sherry shook her head. "Wesker took Steve after Claire and Chris left. He experimented on Steve to make him into a B.O.W with self control basically. In all honesty, I may hate the man but he saved Steve's life. Had it not been for Wesker he would've died." Sherry patted Zack's shoulder and laughed at his still confused expression. "Just know he is a good guy and a old friend of Claire's." Zack glanced back at Steve. Anyone who could make Claire cry by just taking of his sunglasses was no friend of his. Zack was pulled from his wave of hatred when Sherry began tugging on his arm. "Come on let's go. They need some alone time." Zack unwillingly followed her, he was worried about Claire and certainly didn't want to leave her alone with this guy.

Steve watched as Sherry pulled Zack away. He wouldn't be able to thank her enough for this later. "Claire, why don't we go sit down or something?" Claire looked up at him and nodded. Her voice mysteriously disappearing. Keeping at least one arm locked around her waist he walked with her to the deck chairs along the edge of the ship. He carefully sat her down then placed himself in one beside her. "So go ahead." Claire quirked an eyebrow wondering what exactly he was talking about "Go ahead with what?" Steve refrained from rolling his eyes. "Yelling at me for not coming to find you." Claire stared at the metal at her feet. "I don't want to yell at you...I'm sure there was a reason you didn't come after me. Something that kept you from me. I won't question what you did, Steve. I'm just glad to know you're alive."

Steve reached up to cup Claire's cheek in his hand. "Someday I would've came for you, Claire. I was trying to get things settled before I did. No matter what I would've come for you." Reaching up Claire touched her fingertips against the back of Steve's hands. "Please, tell me this isn't a some cruel sick dream. That I won't suddenly wake up and you won't disappear." Steve shook his head. "No, Claire. I'm real. Do you want me to pinch you?" He pinched the skin behind her ear. It wasn't hard but enough to make her jump and slap his hand. "Knock it off!" Steve smirked "Fiesty as ever."

Claire rolled her eyes in an almost irritated manner. Silence grew over the two as they stared at each other. She had waited for this for fourteen years. Played over their reunion in her head a million times and yet couldn't find the words or actions to fit the situation. "Steve, what do you have to take care of?" Steve swallowed hard. "This entire operation that Sherry set up is to hunt down and kill Albert Wesker. I wanted to do that before I came after you. I wanted our reunion to be safe and a lot happier. Neither of us on a blood hunt for the man we hate." She shocked him when she began to laugh. "Chris and I have spent years chasing this man down. He's been 'killed' plenty of times, Steve. If it was as simple as you make it sound then he'd be dead. For good but it's not that simple there's a good chance we'll spend the rest of our lives chasing him down."

Steve sighed knowing that she was right. Talking about it made the entire thing seem easy but in reality it was difficult to even find his name in Umbrella files let alone actually finding him in person. "He's not one to be found without reason." Steve nodded his eyes never leaving her face. "So, where do we go from here?" Claire's question brought a smile to his face. "Let's start here." Reaching up with his other hand Steve grabbed her face between his hands and leaned down to place his lips softly against hers. Claire's eyes opened wide but slowly closed as she began to kiss him back. It was then that their moment was ruined when a large explosion rocked the entire ship. Claire fell from her seat right into Steve's lap. Sherry was suddenly back on the deck. "Steve, it's Umbrella! They found us!"


	8. Crashing

Claire grunted as her eyes fluttered open. She looked around to see Steve, Sherry, and Zack all in the same place as her. She glanced behind her when she tried to move her arms and realized they were behind her back. She sighed as the metal from the handcuffs gleamed back at her. "Great..." She used her elbow to force herself up from the floor into a sitting position. "Guys are you okay?" Everyone made small noises letting her know they were still alive. "What happened?" Steve responded first. "Well, Umbrella attacked the ship. Shot us all with tranquilizers now I'm guessing we are being transported to one of their facilities." Zack chuckled before speaking. "Almost ironic. We escape Umbrella just to get captured by them again." Claire failed to see the humor in this situation but said nothing as she struggled with the handcuffs. "Good luck. They have us locked up pretty tight." Zack watched her for a while wondering what exactly the redhead was doing.

Claire smirked "Look, Zack when you go through this kinda thing as much as I have you learn a few things." She dug into her back pocket and pulled out a bobby pin. She searched around for the key hole then shoved the bobby pin inside. She wiggled it around working the lock until the handcuffs unlocked and hit the floor. Zack smiled at her, rather impressed by her wide varity of skills. Sherry simply rolled her eyes. "Okay missy how about the rest of us?" Claire smiled as she made it around to each one of them and unlocked them as well. Sherry rubbed her wrists as she looked around the small metal room. "So now how do we get out of here?" Steve walked around the room his hand tracing the wall. He put his ear against the wall and listened to the noises outside. "Looks like we are on an airplane. At least that's how it sounds." The sound of an unlocking door made the group freeze. "Shit!" Zack whispered as he looked around the room for a weapon. "Keep cool! Get back to where you were pretend you are still cuffed! When he comes close to one of us we jump him." They all quickly ran back to their original places, hiding the handcuffs behind them and staring at the door. Almost as soon as everyone was back in their original places the door opened.

An Umbrella employee dressed in a body suit walked in. "Seems they are awake, sir." Another man walked in though who it was made the entire group freeze up in fear. Slicked back blonde hair, a black suit, and sunglasses. "Wesker." Claire swallowed hard trying to swallow her fear. The last thing they had wanted was for Wesker to capture them. "Ah, Miss Redfield. Why is this reunion not surprising? I haven't seen you since Antarctica I believe." Claire's head shook back and forth slowly as if she could make him disappear. Wesker turned his attention to Steve and Sherry. "Birkin and Burnside as well. It's been awhile for both of you hasn't it? Don't worry. I'll take good care of all of you." With that Wesker turned on his heels and left the room the Umbrella solider following him out. The door shut and locked behind them. Claire quickly jumped up and jogged to the door. She listened in to the disappearing foot steps. She turned back to her friends her mouth hanging open. "How did this happen?!" The panic almost shining in Claire's voice. Steve got up quickly and grabbed Claire's shoulders. "Calm down! This just means we'll have to plan out our escape a little better. So none of that just winging it crap you seem to do so often." Claire growled as she pushed Steve back.

"I do think things through!" Steve looked at her accusingly. "Oh, name me one time you've actually thought out something you've done." Claire racked her brain through all the incidents she'd gone through. To her irritation Steve was right. She hadn't actually thought through anything she'd done. She'd just gone with the flow but it had all worked out for her in the end. "Oh whatever. Let's just figure this out and get away from Wesker." Steve chuckled knowing he had won this one. Though knowing Claire she'd get him back for it later. For some reason she didn't like to be proven wrong. "So with Wesker inside this plane with us our chances of successfully get out are low." Sherry spoke up after watching Steve and Claire's little battle. Everyone looked at her. "Well think about it you guys. Wesker is suped up. The extra speed and strength. We've got nothing that can top that." Steve smirked. "No, Steve you know that's risky." Claire looked back and forth between the two wondering exactly what was going on. "Yes but Sherry if it's our chance of escape then we really have no choice. I'll distract Wesker and you all jump ship. Well so to speak."

Sherry rolled her eyes. "Great, now we are gunna create a giant scene just to get out." Zack moved forward making his presence among them known. "Guys, this is an airplane they have parachutes we can grab a few and jump." Claire nodded in agreement. "So we wait for someone else to come back, jump him, and make a run for it?" Steve nodded "That's the plan gorgeous." Now all that was stopping them was waiting for someone to come check on them. The group walked around the room looking at really nothing considering it was empty besides them. After what felt like hours finally the door clicked letting them know someone was about to come in. They all ran back to their spots and sat down. The door opened and only one guard walked in, the door shutting behind him. Steve being closest to the door smirked as he jumped up and grabbed the man putting him in a choke hold. The quick attack hadn't given the man time to make even a small noise. They struggled for a while, Steve easily over powering the man. Soon enough the man stopped struggling and fell still. Steve laid his body down easily then moved to the door.

Before opening the door Steve croutched down. Opening it only enough to look out into the room he looked around. He could see Wesker standing by the pilot and the co-pilot but no other guards. The parachutes were lined against the wall close to the door. He slowly closed the door careful not to make any noise. He glanced back at the others. "Parachutes are by the doors. Wesker is by the pilot. I'll go first and get his attention once I have his attention on me, you three get the parachutes and jump." Claire shook her head. "I don't like this Steve. What about you?" Steve smiled "I'll be right behind you I promise." He looked at Sherry who nodded. "Make it count, Burnside." He chuckled "Don't I always?"

Steve busted the door open and ran towards Wesker. The sound of a door crashing open had gotten Wesker's attention. He turned to smirk when he saw Steve coming at him. The others watched from the door waiting for their moment to move. "Wesker!" Steve lunged towards the man. Thankfully, for Steve the airplane was the size of an army plane meant to carry large vehicles. Plenty of room for his show. Mid-air Steve's body began to morph. A large spike protruded from his shoulder, his neck popped out, his teeth turned to fangs, his skin turned green, every feature changed. What Claire saw in front of her made her entire body go on edge. Steve had changed into the very monster she had seen before. The very one that had tried to kill her years before. Steve plowed into Wesker both of them flying into the control panel of the plane. The pilots screamed and jumped from their seats. The plane gave a sharp jerk almost knocking the group over.

Sherry was suddenly pulling on Claire's hand. "Claire move it let's go!" She let her body be tugged by Sherry as she kept her eyes on Steve. She had hoped to never see this again. Steve growled as he and Wesker wrestled around in the front of the plane. Both of them slamming each other into the walls. A parachute was shoved into Claire's chest she hugged it to herself as she continued to watch. Zack quickly put his on along with Sherry. The plane jerked again then began to tilt downwards. "Shit it's going down!" Zack screamed as he grabbed Claire's parachute and began to put it on for her. Once the three had their parachutes on Sherry ripped on the bar to the door, the door slammed open and strong winds began to blow into the plane. "Zack get her out of here now!" Sherry screamed to be heard over the wind as she grabbed another parachute. Zack nodded and grabbed Claire shoving her out of the door. Before Claire really realized what was going on she was falling, Zack holding her hand. "Steve!" Claire looked back at the plane that was quickly growing smaller.

"Steve time to go big boy!" Steve growled as he punched Wesker in the face then threw him into the front of the plane. He quickly turned and began to change back as he made his way towards Sherry. He grabbed up the parachute from Sherry then shoved her out of the door. He jumped out after her and hastily began to put on his parachute as they fell. "Angle down! We have to catch up to Claire and Zack!" Steve yelled as he pointed his body downwards causing himself to fall faster. Sherry followed suit and the plummted towards their partners. In almost no time they had caught up to their friends. The ground was growing larger as they fell. "Pull the cords now!" Steve commanded everyone. Zack and Sherry did as he commanded. Claire though was somewhere else altogether. She saw the ground coming at her but was in to much shock to move her body. Sherry and Zack had already began to slowly glide down to the ground. "Claire!" Steve screamed as he angled himself again to fall towards her. If she didn't pull her cord soon she'd never have enough time to slow down and not get hurt.

He reached Claire and grabbed hold of her. He pulled himself underneath her and grabbed her cord. He quickly gave her cord a hard pull. Her parachute popping out and jerking her upwards as he continued to fall. He quickly turned himself onto his stomach and pulled his own cord. His body jerked as his parachute caught the wind. Claire stared at Steve has the ground came ever closer. Trees littered the ground underneath them. They had no clear place to touch down. "This is gunna hurt..." Steve mumbled to himself as he came crashing into a tree. He heard Claire crash into a tree not to far from him but heard nothing from Sherry and Zack.


	9. Avoid

(I'm extremely sorry for the wait for this chapter. It isn't the best but I figured at least put something out for you guys to read. I will update again with something better. Thanks for the reviews guys!)

"Claire! Claire answer me!" Steve searched through the forest looking for any sign of where the redhead had landed. He rubbed his cheeks with the palms of his hands as he groaned. The sound of cracking twigs caught his attention. Leaves fell from above him causing him to look up into the trees. It was then he saw the red vest and ponytail thrashing around above him trying desperately to free herself. "Claire hold on I'll be up." Getting a running start Steve jumped towards the tree, his foot connecting and pushing him up further to a tree banch a few feet from the ground. He continued up the tree branch by branch until he was directly under Claire's feet. "Don't you normally carry a knife?" Her kicking ceased and she remained quiet. Had Steve not known better he would've thought she had suddenly died. "Claire?" His confusion portreyed in his voice. Why was she ignoring him? He shrugged it off and reached into his boot pulling out a small pocket knife. He stretched his arm up to Claire knife in hand. "Cut yourself free. I'll catch you when you drop."

She remained still for a few more seconds before taking the knife and quickly cutting herself loose. Just has he had said, Steve caught her as she began to drop down. "You're not hurt are you?" She stared at him. Taking in his face, how human he looked at this very moment. "Yeah...I'm fine." He nodded, it was no use now to not be a bit of a show off. She knew he was still infected. "Hold on." Before she had a chance to ask why Steve took a step off the branch dropping himself and Claire to the ground. The sudden drop made Claire squeal as she clung to his neck. He landed with jerk but otherwise was unharmed by the estimated twenty foot drop. After the intial shock had worn off Claire put her feet back onto solid ground. It didn't take long for her to step away from him. "Claire, I think we should talk about what happened in the plane." Her action was quick to the subject. "No. I don't want to talk about it. Let's just find Sherry and Zach. Umbrella will probably be close behind. We need to get on the move." She began to trump off. Steve sighed as he jogged to catch up with her. The walk through the woods was silent. Claire had no idea what to say to him. She felt hurt and confused. Scared as well. She knew what the monster he could be was capable of. It had almost sliced her in half.


End file.
